Kelly Stewart
Staff Writer
It starts with a bridge and ends with life.
Photo courtesy Focus Features
In fact, life is something discussed often in It’s Kind of a Funny Story. Specifically, the lives and daily trials of teenagers, and the message it brings could not be more relevant.
The movie follows the life of 16-year-old Craig Gilner (Keir Gilchrist) as he checks himself into a psychiatric ward, desperately hoping they can help him after he contemplates suicide. Once in the adult psych ward (the teen ward is under construction), he meets Bobby (Zach Galifianakis) and Noelle (Emma Roberts) who are in the process of facing their own inner demons. What follows are five of the most eye-opening days of Craig’s life.
For the most part, Craig doesn’t really have any serious problems in his life. He has some great friends, his parents are nice and he goes to one of the most prestigious schools in New York City. There is nothing obviously wrong in his life that could make him think about committing suicide.
The answer can be summed up into one word: stress. The stress that Craig feels stems from something a lot of students can relate to, and that is the fear of mediocrity. Because, while he may go to a high school for the best and brightest, the other students have achieved perfect SAT scores, or have a schedule full of college-level courses, while Craig is just…Craig.
But “just Craig” isn’t good enough anymore. For most students today, it has to be “Craig, who took an internship over the summer instead of lounging around” or “Craig, who balances school, football, working and homework and still finds time to hang out with his friends”.
This is what makes It’s Kind of a Funny Story so relatable for teens today. It beautifully illustrates the pressures and anxieties of trying to be successful in high school and, by extension, college, and how trying to do this may seem like a hopeless battle for some students.
However, the serious message it sends is not without the humor, and this is where Galifianakis shines. Though he is known to some for the more slapstick comedy, The Hangover, here his humor beautifully meshes with the more serious undertones of the plot. The same goes for Gilchrist and Roberts, they didn’t seem like actors at all. They just seemed like normal kids going through normal problems, which added an important element to the story.
When it comes to today’s definition of “successful”, the movie takes on a sarcastic tone. In one scene, Craig tells his therapist that he is so anxious when it comes to a summer school he is trying out for because he feels that he will ruin his future if he is not accepted. It is then revealed that Craig’s definition of a good job is being a CEO of a company, a nice house is a huge mansion like something out of an episode of Cribs and being lucky in love means having hordes of pretty women drooling all over him.
But It’s Kind of a Funny Story carries a message of hope as well. It isn’t the end of the world if you don’t get into the best job in the nation, and don’t live in the biggest house. In pursuit of these things may lead to anyone, not just Craig, forgetting to do the greatest thing of all: live.
